This article was published in the Summit Daily News. By Elise Reuter.
Gov. John Hickenlooper visited Frisco yesterday to sign a bill that would help provide on-site training for local businesses. The bill, which was sponsored by Rep. Millie Hamner, D-Dillon, would allow state funds to be granted to community colleges for mobile learning labs, a relatively new concept featuring small classrooms on wheels.
“It’s a very hands-on, come-to-the-employer kind of strategy,” Hamner said. “This bill will help incentivize more of these mobile labs to purchase equipment they might need on the job.”
Two additional sponsors of the bill, Rep. Susan Lontine, D-Denver, and Sen. Kerry Donovan, D-Vail, also attended Wednesday’s signing at Elevate CoSpace. The bill is one of nine workforce development bills sponsored by House Democrats that passed both the House and the Senate with bipartisan support, with seven currently awaiting the governor’s signature.
“Summit County is the entrepreneurial hub of rural Colorado. You don’t see this in many places outside of Denver, Boulder or Fort Collins,” Hickenlooper said. “We try to work really hard in making Colorado a destination for startups. If you can attract talent, and give them places they can work out of, or be inspired, that’s where you can really accelerate job creation.”
As it stands, the bill will allow existing funds for the Colorado Existing Industry Training Program to be granted to mobile learning labs across the state.
Portable classrooms
Colorado Mountain College’s interpretation of the concept takes the form of a giant trailer, filled with equipment that travels from campus to campus through the Rockies.
“It’s sort of like a giant horse trailer. It’s all fitted inside with laptops, instructional material, and it even has a projector screen for PowerPoints,” said Rachel Pokrandt, dean of CMC’s Rifle Campus. “We load up the trailer and bring it all over. We can accommodate up to 12 students doing deskwork and more hands-on lab activities.”provide more training click for full article